CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura gets that some minds may begin to wander ahead with his team in first place going into the All-Star break.

Ventura said Sunday he just has to make sure he’s not one of them.

“You start thinking down the line too far, you lose focus on what you can actually control, even for me,” said Ventura, whose team led the American League Central by 3.5 games heading into play on Sunday. “Guys can sit in there and talk about it, but if the guys see me thinking two weeks down the road, then they’re going to think two weeks down the road. You have to do that as a manager. I don’t do it around anybody.”

Ventura and his players have said throughout the season their success has been partly due to their ability to separate one game from the next. They haven’t celebrated too much after wins or been too frustrated after losses. They’ve handled their winning and losing streaks the same.

Ventura’s personality has something to do with that mentality, but it’s also helped that the White Sox are full of veteran players such as Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, Adam Dunn and Jake Peavy. Ventura has made their jobs easier, but they’ve also had the same effect on him.

“I’m in a place where I want to be, with a staff I enjoy being around,” Ventura said. “I think the players have been great. I got a good group. I got lucky for a first year. I got pros.”

Ventura may have professionals, but he also has rookies. The White Sox have 10 of them on their current roster. For Ventura, it’s been the perfect mix.

“You’re happy with [the first half,]” Ventura said. “You’re happy with the effort the guys bring in here every day. The young guys, what they’ve brought the older guys. It’s not always a negative to have young guys. I think it fuses some energy into the guys who have been around a few years and played a long time. That stuff’s fun.”

Ventura believes his team built its confidence in the first half, but wouldn’t change the way it’s done things moving forward because of that success.

“You feel like you can play with anybody,” Ventura said. “How it’s going to end up? Nobody knows that. You can control your effort. You can control your concentration, things like that. The things we work on, we’re working on the defense and cognizant of that kind of stuff more than stuff you can’t control. That’s the stuff you just can focus on.

“The [players] can enjoy [the All-Star break,] but when they get the back it’s going to be the same. The expectations, the focus is back on playing games. Enjoy the four days, guys going to the All-Star Game enjoy it, but when we get back there’s more to do.”